“If you’re not fulfilled, you’re in the wrong place.”
When Afonso first arrived in Belfast almost 30 years ago from Portugal, he was only supposed to be passing through. His original plan was to continue to Salford for a university course. Instead, life took him somewhere entirely different, and over time, Belfast became home.
Afonso had built a successful career in retail management, working across major companies. Yet despite steady career progression, something didn’t feel right, and Afonso asked himself a question that led him into social care. Reflecting on his decision to change his career Afonso said, “It’s a decision you make when you ask yourself the question, ‘Is this what you want to do for the rest of your life, or do you want to make a change?’ At the level I was within my career, suddenly switching to a different path was a leap of faith.”
To take his leap into a more fulfilling profession, Afonso joined the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust in 2009 as a social care practitioner, working in the Homecare Team, offering support in individual service users’ homes, with the aim of helping them live independently.
A leap into the unknown
This decision to change his career came with real risks. Afonso had a mortgage, young children and took a decrease in salary. But even in those early months, he knew he had made the right choice. “In life, you have to not be afraid to make decisions because you can regret the things that you didn’t do,” he says. Despite the uncertainty, Afonso quickly realised his decision was the right one.
He discovered something he felt had been missing for him before – a real sense of purpose and accomplishment – and fun. “Working in homecare, I used to ride my motorbike and go around to care for my clients. I can say that was the best job I ever had in my life. It was so fulfilling carrying for others,” he reflects.
Learning from the frontline
That shift in mindset changed Afonso’s understanding of what a successful working life is and the importance of leadership. Where success in retail had been measured through numbers, success in social care became something far more personal. “I would say success now is when I get feedback from families and from the people I support. Making someone’s life better is what really matters.”
Since his initial role, Afonso has advanced his career in the Belfast Trust’s Homecare and Reablement Services, balancing full-time work with completing additional qualifications and leadership training. He currently works as an Intensive Homecare/RAPS Operational Manager, which involves managing staff and supporting their development. He believes his journey from starting off as a frontline social care practitioner, supporting people in their own homes, shaped the leader in social care he has become – approachable, understanding and grounded in practice.
“You build character through experience; you cannot put a value on it. It’d be very hard for someone who had never worked in the community to understand the difficulties, yet when staff come to you and say, ‘This is what’s happening’, I understand exactly what they mean because I have done the job,” Afonso says.
Afonso is passionate about reablement, a social care service focused on helping people regain independence after an illness or hospital stay. Rather than automatically assigning long-term care packages, this service assesses what people can still do independently.
“Social care play an important role in keeping someone living in their own home as independently as possible. We always support and encourage people to cook their own meals, do their own personal care, and look after everything themselves if they can”. For Afonso, reablement represents the future of social care because it focuses on individual empowerment and effective use of resources.
The sky’s the limit
As a profession, Afonso believes social care offers genuine career progression and development opportunities. His own journey from a home care worker to social care manager in the Belfast Trust reflects that belief. Offering advice to others considering making a career change to social care, Afonso says, “The opportunities when you work in social care are infinite. Don’t be afraid to change your career because it is never too late. Follow what makes you happy – don’t stay where you’re not.”
A guiding light for Afonso is a quote by T.S. Eliot that has stayed with him throughout his career: “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” For him, that quote perfectly captures his journey through social care, a career built on courage, compassion and fulfilment. “If you’re not fulfilled, you’re in the wrong place”.
Take a deeper dive… You can hear more from Afonso and his career development on an episode of the Care to chat podcast here .
Feeling inspired?
Working together to change people’s lives… Make a difference by embarking on your journey into social care. For more information on how you can start your journey check out our Interested in becoming a social care practitioner? page or read more social care stories here.